Abstract
This Note addresses cell-site location information and the third-party doctrine while deeply analyzing the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Carpenter v. United States. This case has proven itself quite uninformative as it left the third-party doctrine in a state of disarray and confusion. This Note argues that there is no Fourth Amendment protection for information held and developed by a third-party cell phone carrier, even with technological advances such as cell-site location information. Because the information is produced by an individual's cell phone carrier stamping the individual's phone with the location of the cell tower from which it is pulling its service, the user has effectively consented to such information being shared with a third party and is at least somewhat aware that the cell-site location information, along with the phone number dialed, can be provided to the police without a warrant. There are effective measures, both legislative and judicial, that if implemented will help fix these privacy issues arising out of technological advances.
Recommended Citation
Chelsea Ann Padgett,
Implications of the Third-Party Doctrine: The New Age of Digital Data and Carpenter,
72 Fla. L. Rev.
905
(2020).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol72/iss4/5